Stretch Marks
by egyouppt
Summary: It's been a long year for Quinn. What has she learned from it? Reflective Quinn with a side of Puck/Quinn.


**A/N: I like Quinn. And I hope you like this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from Glee or its affiliates. **

**Reviews = Love.**

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Quinn slowly glided her fingers across her stomach, closing her eyes when she felt the ridges. Of course she'd gone back down to a normal weight after she had given birth to Beth. But she feared the stretch marks would remain with her forever; a constant reminder of her sophomore year of high school. And all the pain and mistakes that accompanied it.

She'd been applying cocoa and shea butter to them every day for the last two weeks. (She couldn't remember which one was supposed to reverse or minimize the damage and she didn't want to ask her mother because that relationship was still too strained.) But it didn't seem to be helping all that much.

Quinn had mostly been spending her time in her room, lying on her bed and thinking about all the decisions she had made. Should she have stayed on the Cheerios after she blackmailed Miss Sylvester? Why had she thought making the damn glist would be a good idea? Had giving up Beth really been for the best? Was that what she wanted? Would she finally be able to trust Puck to commit to her?

She groaned in frustration and sat up. Why was she even dwelling on all this? What was in the past was in the past. And there it would stay. It wasn't as if she could change anything now.

But the stray thought of Puck caused her mind to flash back to that day at the hospital…

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"Fuck," Puck whispered solemnly.

While she disagreed with his word choice, she wholeheartedly agreed with his sentiments.

They had just agreed to let go of Beth, placing her (hypothetically at this point) into Shelby Corcoran's hands. She sighed despondently, although part of her was still thrilled and shocked at Puck's admission of love the day before. Of _course_ it would take having a baby to get him to open up. It figured. But still, she had seen the tears in his eyes, the look of pure, unadulterated love on his face as his—their—daughter entered the realm of the living.

"Someday," he told her, his voice low, "we're gonna be standing here again. And you can bet we'll be taking that damn baby home."

Her heart jumped a little. Did Puck really care about her that much? Did _she_ really care about _him_ that much? She thought maybe she did. Because despite his flaws, his hormones, and his juvenile tendencies, he was a guy with a lot of layers. And those layers ran deep. She had come to realize that.

So she took his hand and squeezed it lightly before announcing that she was going back to her room to rest.

And she couldn't keep the smile from forming on her lips when he turned to follow her.

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She smirked as she remembered the way he had kissed her back in her hospital room. At first she had been _furious_ that her water had broken on the same day as Regionals. But now she thought that Beth's birth provided a light spot, a positive angle amidst all the drama and woe of New Directions' loss at Regionals.

She had mulled over the idea of living with her mom again for quite some time. She couldn't help but feel that her mom only asked to quell the loneliness she would come to feel at her husband's absence. That was unfortunate, but Quinn had been so disappointed by her parents lack of support when they found out she was pregnant. At the same time, she was still young and didn't want to be one of those women who was estranged from her mother, who ended up bitter and jaded. So she had told herself that she would try and mend her relationship with her mother. That was easier said than done, though. However, she was still determined to get there.

Quinn sighed as she looked around her room. It seemed all wrong somehow. Not welcoming like it used to feel. She missed living with Mercedes. Not just because Mercedes was her friend, but also because she missed feeling those warm vibes of _family._ Mercedes' family had never made her feel out of place and had gone out of their way to make sure she was all right. They gave her the acceptance she had been searching for.

She wasn't proud of the ice queen she had been; wasn't proud of the people she had hurt or the anguish she had caused. But she _was_ proud of having learned from all of it.

And she _was_ proud of being a part of the glee club, filled with people who treated her with respect, who believed in her. She was proud of the friends she had made and proud of the "friends" she had given up. She was proud that she had overcome her superficiality in favor of becoming a real person again; a person who could feel. Okay, so she still wasn't the _nicest_ person she'd ever met. But not everybody could be. Not everyone had inherent kindness bred into them. Sure, she still found Rachel extremely annoying. She still thought Santana was a bitch. She still thought Tina didn't talk enough and she still thought Mike and Matt needed to try and stand out more. But the point was, she didn't _hate_ any of those people anymore. She didn't hate anyone in the glee club. And wasn't that a big enough step for now? She respected all of them as performers and even as people. So, despite everything, she still thought she had come a long way. A good way.

Quinn was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of Puck's truck rumbling up the driveway. She had almost forgotten they were going to some music festival in Columbus that Puck was playing at. As her mind wandered back to her accomplishments (for lack of better phrasing, she thought,) over the past year, she removed her hand from her belly.

And at the thought of Puck waiting for her, she glanced down once more.

She smiled, pondering her reevaluation of her life, and then shrugged blithely. She finally lifted her eyes entirely from her stretch marks.

Because, well, maybe they were worth it.

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**Take care!  
Ciao,  
x **


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